March 13
2004

Again, someone in my opinion, who is missing the point that a lot of what made Buffy great was the character development and how they handled life's challenges.

And yes, SMG was very thin by the last couple of seasons but by all accounts it was a very physical job and if you see clips of her from The Grudge, she seems to have put on some of the weight she lost while doing Buffy.

And, David Boreanaz has filled out since his early days on Buffy but I think saying his neck is now thicker than his head was a little much.

I'm just sick to death of people commenting on actors appearance. SMG is too thin, David B. is too fat, Charisma Carpenter put on weight when she was pregnant (duh!) etc.

Lately, each time I see something from The Guardian I hesitate to follow the link. But having absolutely no self-restraint, I end up doing it anyway, and more often than not, regretting it, since most of what's published there manages only to irritate me. There's not much I can comment on that blwessels hasn't already pointed out, just that I find it unfortunate that so few people seem able to comprehend Buffy's sociological impact and instead view it merely as "ass-kicking entertainment". Which it is, but there's so much more to it.

Well the article is addressed to that Ofsted person (sorry I don't remember exactly who he was) who cited Buffy as a role model. I don't think the writer meant it as a rebuke to any attempts she may have viewed the show to have been making at creating Buffy as a role model. Eh, that seemed a very convoluted sentence. Did it make sense?

That said...

She lost me most (in fact, I stopped reading at about this point, not so much out of disgust as out of indifference), when she said something about Buffy's chief goal in high school to be popularity, or whatever it was she said. It might be that she went on to better qualify that statement in later parts of the article, but citing that as a reason why Buffy doesn't make a good role model- well, it's somewhat bothersome. It implies that Buffy's some flighty ditz and it implies that wanting to be popular is inherently wrong. I don't think it is. Not that that really is all she wants anyway, or that it's as simple as that. But the bottom line, whatever Buffy's feelings in high school may have been, she stayed true to her 'sacred duty.' She did what she had to do when she had to do it. Ok, except that one time...:)

And you know, for that matter she actually did take high school seriously, despite the running joke that she's not all that good at it.

Ugh! What an awful article! Puh-lease;"be pretty, be thin, be shiny: be happy." Yes because we all know just how happy Buffy was all the time. Let's see; Season One: Buffy hears she's going to die and is ever so happy. Season Two; Buffy's boyfriend turns evil and tries to kill her friends, then Buffy has to kill him, she simply smiles and says " Well now I can become more popular because I won't have to hang with a creepy dead guy". Season Three: said dead guy returns, but they can't be together, Buffy smiles and giggles, while another slayer "turns evil." Really must I continue? Anyone who has seen Season Six KNOWS that Buffy is not always happy and shiny. What bull.

For what it's worth (not that I agree at all with what's being said in the article), I got the impression the writer meant "on the surface" buffy apears that way. But what the writer clearly misses is that viewers of Buffy dont just watch it for one dimensional eye-candy, but the deeper meanings and stories. It sounds like Lucy may have been absent when Buffy lost her mother and perservered or battled depression, and, albeit not pretty, won the battle.

But in terms of Buffy's High School years, just in case the role model reference was about teenage girls in high school (I have no idea who this Ofsted guy is either), Lucy misses the point again. Buffy's only "happiness" in these three seasons is at best the facade spurred by her undying selflessness. She was never really happy back then, and her "shinyness" was only her warm nature. The role model is not what you see after watching just one episode, but rather what you see Buffy achieve despite her predicament over the seasons.

I agree. Most people seize to believe that Buffy's real feeling's are shown her actions. But the fact of the matter is it's what's on the inside. Only a small portion of her feelings reflect on her slaying ability. Like in the Freshman, Buffy attended collage, a whole new world. She came face-to-face with Sunday, who is more or less like any other Vampire she fights. She is what most people refer to a typicall perky High - Schooler with a great personality, and in some cases this is true.

Every High School has it's differences. Everybody has issues in the real world, including Buffy. It's great to have friends a loving mother and a Watcher, but she can never curl up on the couch and just relax. She has the Weight of the World on her shoulders. I think that in some cases Buffy plays an incredible role model for High - Schoolers in particular.